One of 3 Monitors Blacks out for a second when alt-tabbing Full Screen Games

[JustinGayme.TTV]

Hello all,

I have a central monitor I game on and 1 monitor on each side of this to browse and do other things for my live streaming.

The past few weeks, whenever I am playing any game from steam that is full screen, alt-tabbing or clicking on another monitor screen will make the left monitor go black for a second then it comes right back.For example, i may mouseover to a side monitor to type something in my twitch chat, and this will cause the left monitor to blackout. Running all programs on the right monitor and no programs on the left monitor does not fix the issue it still blacks out.

My two side monitors are identical to one another, and they use the same cable, and plug into the same GPU. I am not much of a tech guy so i really have no idea whats going on or what to try to fix this.

Playing games in windowed mode does not seem to create this problem, so I think that is the key to figuring this out. Fullscreen applications only.

For the record, this may not be directly a steam problem, but as i only game on steam, and games are the only thing that make this problem, it is the most relevant place for me to post, I believe.


Windows 10
Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9900 CPU @ 3.10GHz, 3096 Mhz
Nvidia RTX3080Ti
32 GB RAM
Main Monitor ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q 27" 2560 x 1440
Secondary Monitors ASUS VA27EHE 27" Eye Care Monitor Full HD (1920 x 1080)
Motherboard Intel PRIME Z390-A

[Pocahawtness]

I get the same issue with fullscreen.
I am not sure what it is, I "think" it's a problem with Windows but I am really not sure. In my case, it seems to get worse if I ever select HDR for the monitor in a game. Even if I change the settings back, it seems to have permanently affected that monitor when I switch in that game.
Certainly, the solution is "don't use fullscreen" !!

[Andrius227]

I think gsync does that. But your side monitors dont have gsync so thats weird. Could still try turning it off just to see if it makes a difference.

Thats actually why i never use gsync. It makes alt tabbing much slower.

[JustinGayme.TTV]

Originally posted by Andrius227:

I think gsync does that. But your side monitors dont have gsync so thats weird. Could still try turning it off just to see if it makes a difference.

Thats actually why i never use gsync. It makes alt tabbing much slower.

according to nvidia control panel all my monitors are gsync compatabile but i have it turned off on them all. It has only ever caused me issues.

[Heaven Fall]

hy

Don't know a solution

But I have the same problem

3 screens
1 main on center
2 on both side ( same model for this one )

And when I'm on fullscreen for a game and I click on another monitor this is the central one who going black ( for 2 second, lost sound ) and when I click on the game , again, black
Never have this problem before I change screen and I don't know why this happen

[JustinGayme.TTV]

Originally posted by Heaven Fall:

hy

Don't know a solution

But I have the same problem

3 screens
1 main on center
2 on both side ( same model for this one )

And when I'm on fullscreen for a game and I click on another monitor this is the central one who going black ( for 2 second, lost sound ) and when I click on the game , again, black
Never have this problem before I change screen and I don't know why this happen

Originally posted by Pirate☠️Pocah:

I get the same issue with fullscreen.
I am not sure what it is, I "think" it's a problem with Windows but I am really not sure. In my case, it seems to get worse if I ever select HDR for the monitor in a game. Even if I change the settings back, it seems to have permanently affected that monitor when I switch in that game.
Certainly, the solution is "don't use fullscreen" !!

How long have yall had the issue?

[emoticorpse]

I would think this is expected behavior when talking about at least one monitor fullscreen and going into/out of it. The odd thing to me is this was never an issue but I do believe you when you say it didn't happen before.

Similar thing happens to me when I use my tv as a secondary display and I drag an hdr video into/out of my tv and like it kicks on/off the hdr mode of the display. But I don't think that is the monitor turning on/off, just changing modes.

[Schrute_Farms_B&B]

I hope you just want to know the reason of why exactly this is happening when you tab out of Full-Screen, since this isnt exactly a issue or an even worth to create a thread, tbh....

A quick Google search would have helped you within seconds.
This "phenomenon" exists since decades and is related due the Display Stream Compression on Nvidia GPUs, but it also occurs for AMD GPUs or any other brand. It could also be related to playing on lower refreshrate ingame than your native monitor resolution or even a simple in game option which would automatically change the ingame refreshrate.

To get rid of this "non-issue", and I wonder why anyone on this planet would do that, is to reduce the data rate, lower color depth, refresh rate or color format, for example, from 10 bpc to 8bpc, but again, it looks horrible and isnt going to fix much.

There is a calculator out there which lets you calculate your data bitrate (DP/HDMI 2.1, etc.) in order being able to reduce it.
Take a look on LTT[linustechtips.com] for further instructions.

[76561199502155650]

this is actually weird cause sometimes i get image black outs randomly

from what i heard its a emf single interference it happens with cheap HDMI cables sometimes static / electric magnetic interference can trigger this slight black screen blink out to happen.

read more about it, but it sounds more likely your reason.

the example i will give is when i get out of my office chair and or move around my room sometimes my screen blacks in an out.

[Schrute_Farms_B&B]

Originally posted by Unicorn - Rainbow Unit:

this is actually weird cause sometimes i get image black outs randomly

from what i heard its a emf single interference it happens with cheap HDMI cables sometimes static / electric magnetic interference can trigger this slight black screen blink out to happen.

read more about it, but it sounds more likely your reason.

the example i will give is when i get out of my office chair and or move around my room sometimes my screen blacks in an out.

This has literally nothing to do with OPs problem but you should definitelly take a deeper dive into your own issue. Doesnt sound quite right.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Go buy better quality DP Cables.

[Pocahawtness]

Originally posted by JustinGayme.TTV:

Originally posted by Heaven Fall:

hy

Don't know a solution

But I have the same problem

3 screens
1 main on center
2 on both side ( same model for this one )

And when I'm on fullscreen for a game and I click on another monitor this is the central one who going black ( for 2 second, lost sound ) and when I click on the game , again, black
Never have this problem before I change screen and I don't know why this happen

Originally posted by Pirate☠️Pocah:

I get the same issue with fullscreen.
I am not sure what it is, I "think" it's a problem with Windows but I am really not sure. In my case, it seems to get worse if I ever select HDR for the monitor in a game. Even if I change the settings back, it seems to have permanently affected that monitor when I switch in that game.
Certainly, the solution is "don't use fullscreen" !!

How long have yall had the issue?

I have had G-Sync for years, and never noticed it. However, in the last year I bought a freesync HDR monitor, and I noticed it ever since then.

But it's not as simple as that. I also started using "Fullscreen" more. I used to use "Fullscreen Window" before. So, a number of things changed at once. I can't be sure whether it is the mode, HDR, or Freesync. I am sure it's one of those, though.

[Tiberius]

Definitely gsync issue. From my experience, monitors that have "power saving" mode seem to have this problem.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Tiberius:

Definitely gsync issue. From my experience, monitors that have "power saving" mode seem to have this problem.

The OP doesn't have GSync enabled at all.
Please read everything before you post; it helps.


I'd start by stop using HDMI if that is the case. Use 3x DP instead.
Don't use cables that ship with Monitors; buy better ones right away.
Play games in Borderless Window Mode; otherwise WTF in the point of multi-Display setup when you can't use those extra Displays when the game is in Full-Screen Mode.

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Originally posted by Tiberius:

Definitely gsync issue. From my experience, monitors that have "power saving" mode seem to have this problem.

The OP doesn't have GSync enabled at all.
Please read everything before you post; it helps.


I'd start by stop using HDMI if that is the case. Use 3x DP instead.
Don't use cables that ship with Monitors; buy better ones right away.
Play games in Borderless Window Mode; otherwise WTF in the point of multi-Display setup when you can't use those extra Displays when the game is in Full-Screen Mode.

Op, i can also assure you it has nothing to do with cables. Dont waste your money

[Pocahawtness]

Originally posted by Tiberius:

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

The OP doesn't have GSync enabled at all.
Please read everything before you post; it helps.


I'd start by stop using HDMI if that is the case. Use 3x DP instead.
Don't use cables that ship with Monitors; buy better ones right away.
Play games in Borderless Window Mode; otherwise WTF in the point of multi-Display setup when you can't use those extra Displays when the game is in Full-Screen Mode.

Op, i can also assure you it has nothing to do with cables. Dont waste your money

I agree with that. I am using Vesa certified DP cables and it still happens.